Game -5: Sacramento Kings v. Brooklyn Nets. 10/11/14 10 PM PST 1PM Chinese Time (I Think)

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I would agree with those who say that Evans and Hollins have been better than Landry, however, a bench unit with Hollins and Evans ... especially if we move Nik into the starting lineup, could struggle hard offensively.

Sessions - McLem0re - Casspi - Evans - Hollins would rely entirely on Sessions. Casspi has been good, but not as a scorer (his FG% is all over the place). I think he's been great as an IQ / energy / glue guy, but man, I don't know about that bench with him as option #2 (then a huge dropoff to options #3,#4, and #5)

He hasn't looked like an offensive threat, but he WAS an offensive threat. If he isn't anymore, than it doesn't matter, but he MIGHT be. And we might need him to be.

Fortunately we have a few more games to figure it out. Landry was bad last night, but he only played 5 minutes.

 

[pshn80]

I lol'ed at that ben iso. honestly guys, its preseason. I think Malone just wanted them to do whatever and figure it out themselves

If it had gone in .... well you grt the idea. It doesn't seem that Nik is the go to guy yet. Saw no one look for him in the corner. Evans almost scored as much as Cuz and his free throw shooting was almost as good. Hollins continues to do some good things. Didn't even know Moreland was in the game until I saw the box score. Fun game. The Nets superior experience and talent just about matched the Kings.

 

[Chupacabra]

The only players who should consider that shot are Curry, Lillard, James, and KD.. I don't think we have any of those players..

...Paul, Parker, J. Johnson, Irving, Rose, Gay, Carmelo, Bryant, IT, Harden, Ellis, Westbrook...

 

[Kingster]

I'm not liking Malone's coaching so far in the preseason. He wants to go to a motion offense, but then he doesn't. Make up your mind, Malone. If you're in for the motion offense, you're ALL in, not half-a$$ed in. It doesn't work with a kinda sorta woulda commitment. It works if you're ALL in. So you don't go iso with Gay because he looks horrible, and you don't go iso with McLemore because you want to give him confidence. You go for a motion play at the end of the game to show how committed you are to the motion offense, how you believe in it, and therefore how your team should believe in it. If you don't show your a believer, why should they?

 

[ESP47]

Have no idea. But I will say this: I have considered the idea and gone so far as to scour the league looking for a reasonably priced veteran who might legitimately be available due to his situation and who could shoot, make smart plays, and be a good capper for our backcourt/natural 3rd option. I came up with an interesting name:

Age: 31
Contract:
2014/15: $6.8mil
2015/16: $7.1mil
2016/17: $7.4mil

Now quite obviously I have never been known as a Kevin Martin fan. But he was born a 3rd weapon, and a 3rd weapon he would be here. His contract is reasonable, and it runs out just in time for Nik to start getting paid himself. in the intervening years an aging KMart/Stauskas backcourt would suck defensively but would provide absolutely guarnateed shooting as Boogie tries to average those 5 ast a game. There's not much ego to bother with if Nick eventually displaces him. And its a way to lock in an affordable 3rd option for years forward rather than having to pay max for one. It feels like a drab capper to the team, but Martin/Stauskas would let you 100% checkmark off the SG position as filled and done for, and Cousins/Gay/Martin with the vets we have started piling up could/should at least get you in that competitive .500 in the West conversation. You can get there contractwise by sending them Ben and DWill back. They're rebuilding. You would think they would want to shed contracts and take on even dubious youth.

You're probably stuck with the JT/Landry mess up front, but now you add Martin it buys you a Reggie Evans as a starter. You can go:

Cousins/JT/Hollins
Evans/Landry/Moreland
Gay/Casspi
Martin/Stauskas
Colllison/Sessions/McCallum

Which looks real solid to me. Almost none of that clueless confusion of years past. everybody qualified or overqualified for their roles. Still too many shot accounted for and not enough defense, but at least now I have confidence in most of the backcourt (with the possible exception of Sessions) to defer as necessary.

I'd do this in a second. You lose nothing on the defensive end (because there was nothing there anyway) and instantly get your 3rd best offensive weapon. Only problem I see is there's no way they do this unless they are in full "contract dump" mode. McLemore and Williams have zero trade value at this point. People like to believe McLemore has trade value but I just don't think so. He may pull a Gerald Green and become serviceable years later, but at this point in time he's as lost as it gets in the NBA.

 

[pshn80]

Pretty bummed that D-Will just doesn't seem to get it. I have much love for his role in keeping Arizona a top flight program in Coach Miller's first two seasons but he just isn't cut out for the league.

Last play, I guess forgivable. Pre-season, reserves on the court, blah blah blah. I don't think it damages any one player's confidence, I think they all understand. But why?

Looking forward to games that count.

I'm looking forward to the next preseason game. We're not ready for the season yet.

 

[Glenn]

I'm an Evans fan. He knows his limits and plays right up to his limits. The guy can rebound. Do I have to say that twice? He also seems to influence Cuz or so I've read. I'm not just talking about the 5 techs goal but in other ways. Can't say I've seen any results except the two techs on Cuz have been CHEAP.

I see we are overanalyzing already.

 

[pshn80]

Brick, I would like Nik to start too, but I think if we have any more trades this season, it will be a significant one and Ben will definitely be included. That's why I think Ben stays in the starting line up, so we can showcase him some more with the hope that he doesn't suck as bad as he did last year. I would like to see JT go too, as we have plenty of backup PFs, but not a starting one. JT + Ben for Hibbert

Sounds awful. Play a poor player, lose more games so you can get your money out of him? No thanks.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Misfit Toys
Jason Thompson -- if Game 2 JT showed up every night he could start. But he's a career long tease, and multiple true vets showing consistency makes him stand out.

It is somewhat noteworthy that Thompson's most productive game this preseason has been as a reserve. It seems to have codified two things that most Kings Fans already knew:

1. Thompson is a quality third big
2. Thompson keeps getting shoehorned back into the starting lineup because he is a third big on a team that doesn't have a quality second big.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

3 things from last nights game:

- You guys were right, Omri Casspi is far better than Derrick Williams. I do not want to see Williams getting any playing time in the regular season. He's just awful

- Ramon Sessions was as AWESOME pickup, especially at the price. He is far better than Ray McCallum (and i have been a huge Ray Mac endorser) but it's just not even close. And i believe i heard the announcer last night mention that Sessions once had a 24 assist game

-Reggie Evans gets far too many touches when he is on the floor. It's almost like the other players have the mentality that he is the veteran on the team so he needs to get the ball on offense. For this reason alone, i do not want to see him in the starting lineup. I do love Reggie, but for the love of god, please stop giving him the ball at the high post

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Rudy Gay is tired. He has admitted to it. Cuz too.

Very obvious. I would be totally fine if they sat Cousins and maybe even Rudy out of the last couple Preseason games

 

[bajaden]

Both Sessions and Collison have been really impressive so far. Like many here, I don't understand why we keep going to Evans/Landry instead of replacing one of them with Hollins. Either way you lack much of an offensive presence inside (so far Landry has not been the inside presence he used to be), but at least Hollins gives you more size. We need to find a way to reduce Evans' involvement in facilitating the offense. Right now he's being used far too much having to catch the ball and make good passes from the high post and what not.

Cousins has had some very very good stretches. Rudy's play has been disappointing - he still seems to thrive in 1 on 1 situations and not so much playing off of others. He's been attacking the rim a lot more, which is both a positive and negative. Positive because he's not settling for outside shots. Negative because every time he takes it inside it's via lots of dribbling and 1 on 1 offense.

Well to be fair, the way their using Evans in the high post is similar to Kentucky's dribble drive offense. Yes, Evans has the ball in the high post, but in that system, he doesn't pass the ball, but hands it off to cutters as they pass by. The hand off can be his decision, or a result of the play that's been called. As he hands off the ball to the cutter, he then becomes the pick. Michigan also uses this play, and it's a play that Stauskas scored a lot of basketts off of, or got assists off of. My point is, you don't have to be a good passer to be the handler. Unless of course the play happens to go south

 

[bajaden]

If it had gone in .... well you grt the idea. It doesn't seem that Nik is the go to guy yet. Saw no one look for him in the corner. Evans almost scored as much as Cuz and his free throw shooting was almost as good. Hollins continues to do some good things. Didn't even know Moreland was in the game until I saw the box score. Fun game. The Nets superior experience and talent just about matched the Kings.

I counted five times in the fourth quarter where Nik moved to the open spot and had no defender near him, but didn't get the ball. The Kings in general seemed determined to attack the basket, which unfortunately led to Evans, one of our worse free throw shooters, being at the line. When you consider we lost the game at the line, I don't think that's a formula for success in the future. Other than this one game, I don't think you can fairly compare (and I'm not implying that you were) Cousins and Evans ability to shoot free throws. Both have track records, and Evans track record is a poor one. Cousins, while not excellent, has been average to slightly above average.

Not sure what the implication is about Stauskas as the go to guy. I don't think anyone thinks of him as the number one or two or three option, and apparently his teammates don't either. So far he's shot the ball very well in two games, and had an off night in the last nights game. In college, he was very consistent. So I suggest we wait till we have 20 to 30 games in the book before making any early conclusions. All shooters have off nights. In the case of established shooters, they usually get a chance even things out if they have a bad first half. In Nik's case, he likely won't get that opportunity this early in his career. Not fair perhaps, but that's how it works in the NBA. I can remember games where Peja went 1 for 8 in the first half, and ended up 8 for 15 by the end of the game.

 

[swisshh]

To me, it was obvious that Malone was using the close game to test certain things out. You'll see different players and different approaches when it matters. He took Casspi out when he was going well to see other new guys handle the situation. He found that Casspi can be reliable, so he wanted to see who else might handle it well.

 

[funkykingston]

Don't know if Minny wants to move Martin's contract but it could certainly make some sense. They have over $70 million in payroll this season and while there a number of contracts that can come off the books (Mo Williams and JJ Barea will be unrestricted, player options for Thaddeus Young and Budinger, team options on a few guys on rookie deals, QO due to Rubio etc) the reality is that the team will likely want to resign both Rubio and Young which will cost a pretty penny. Plus dealing Martin opens up a starting job for LaVine where McLemore can function as his backup. Given that they'll likely be a running team to take advantage of Wiggins, LaVine, Young as well as Rubio's passing and the other youngsters on the team I could see it being a possibility for them. If McLemore becomes a contributor then they can resign him and if not he's cap savings.

Personally I think it'd be a good deal. A bench that has Sessions and Stauskas and possibly Landry if he returns to form would provide enough scoring. And if Evans starts next to Cuz then JT would add to the bench group which already has Omri looking like a good bench piece.

 

[bajaden]

I'd do this in a second. You lose nothing on the defensive end (because there was nothing there anyway) and instantly get your 3rd best offensive weapon. Only problem I see is there's no way they do this unless they are in full "contract dump" mode. McLemore and Williams have zero trade value at this point. People like to believe McLemore has trade value but I just don't think so. He may pull a Gerald Green and become serviceable years later, but at this point in time he's as lost as it gets in the NBA.

I've said many times that 50% of what makes a player great is what's between his ear's, and in my humble opinion, that's where McLemore is lacking. Does that mean he'll never get it? Of course not. It may limit his overall ceiling, but I certainly think he'll be a solid role player at worse. The question is, how long with it take, and does that fit into the Kings overall plan.? I don't have that answer, but to think he doesn't have any trade value is ridiculous. As someone once said, there's a sucker born every minute. There's always going to be a GM who thinks he has the formula to get the talent out of a player, and sometimes, he's right. I do think the ship has sailed on Williams, but in McLemore's case, he's not much more, or less than most GM's thought he would be at this time. Everyone knew he was a diamond in the rough, and that it would take time to get him up to speed.

The truth is, McLemore has the ability to play the position, but, he doesn't have the basketball intelligence or instincts to play the position. So far, it appears that Stauskas does. That's a good thing for the Kings and a bad thing for McLemore. At least in the short term. I think Bricky's idea of trading McLemore and Williams for Martin would be a brilliant move. Not sure it works on paper, but it could also end up being a great move for Minny down the road.

 

[bajaden]

It is somewhat noteworthy that Thompson's most productive game this preseason has been as a reserve. It seems to have codified two things that most Kings Fans already knew:

1. Thompson is a quality third big
2. Thompson keeps getting shoehorned back into the starting lineup because he is a third big on a team that doesn't have a quality second big.

Concise and well said!

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I'm looking forward to the next preseason game. We're not ready for the season yet.

I didn't post that necessarily because I think we're ready, I just am not a big fan of preseason anything. It runs counter to my enjoyment of sports. I understand the need, I just usually don't like to watch it. The game was on at a pretty convenient time for me last night though so I caught a good chunk of it.

 

[Chicken Chaser]

Upon seeing this, Paul Westphal expressed his utter confusion, unaware that NBA rules and regulations do not in fact require every play to be a guard rushing blinding towards the hoop from the top of the key.

Grant Napear: "If you don't like that, you don't like NBA team basketball!"

 

[Chicken Chaser]

3 things from last nights game:

- You guys were right, Omri Casspi is far better than Derrick Williams. I do not want to see Williams getting any playing time in the regular season. He's just awful

- Ramon Sessions was as AWESOME pickup, especially at the price. He is far better than Ray McCallum (and i have been a huge Ray Mac endorser) but it's just not even close. And i believe i heard the announcer last night mention that Sessions once had a 24 assist game

-Reggie Evans gets far too many touches when he is on the floor. It's almost like the other players have the mentality that he is the veteran on the team so he needs to get the ball on offense. For this reason alone, i do not want to see him in the starting lineup. I do love Reggie, but for the love of god, please stop giving him the ball at the high post

I wish NBA 2K would boost Omri's rating in the video game. It's absurd he's currently rated in the 60s while Derrick gets a pass in the 70s. Ah, my video game fantasies...

 

[NewArena]

I actually love the idea of Kevin Martin returning. with the way we've been moving the ball at times, and Cousins getting a lot more comfy in that high post, i can absolutely see Kevin's knack for moving without the ball, and being in the right place, really meshing well with what we're trying to do. It honestly makes sense

Couple that with his ability to get to the line and actually make his freethrows, im game.

 

[NewArena]

Sounds awful. Play a poor player, lose more games so you can get your money out of him? No thanks.

yea, those days are hopefully over. right now, there isn't much to "showcase", so i dont go along with that
line of thinking. We can't afford to do stuff like that right now. Let's get used to winning some games, please.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

I wish NBA 2K would boost Omri's rating in the video game. It's absurd he's currently rated in the 60s while Derrick gets a pass in the 70s. Ah, my video game fantasies...

This reminds me, i noticed his free throw shooting in the game is awful. rated a 45. Is he really that bad at free throws?

 

[NewArena]

3 things from last nights game:

- You guys were right, Omri Casspi is far better than Derrick Williams. I do not want to see Williams getting any playing time in the regular season. He's just awful

- Ramon Sessions was as AWESOME pickup, especially at the price. He is far better than Ray McCallum (and i have been a huge Ray Mac endorser) but it's just not even close. And i believe i heard the announcer last night mention that Sessions once had a 24 assist game

-Reggie Evans gets far too many touches when he is on the floor. It's almost like the other players have the mentality that he is the veteran on the team so he needs to get the ball on offense. For this reason alone, i do not want to see him in the starting lineup. I do love Reggie, but for the love of god, please stop giving him the ball at the high post

omg i agree. i dont know why they almost run the offense through Reggie, sometimes. I'm gonna need for him to
remove the headband, because they're clearly getting him confused with Big Cuz. yikes.

 

[bajaden]

omg i agree. i dont know why they almost run the offense through Reggie, sometimes. I'm gonna need for him to
remove the headband, because they're clearly getting him confused with Big Cuz. yikes.

LOL, that thought also crossed my mind.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

I'm gonna need for him to
remove the headband, because they're clearly getting him confused with Big Cuz. yikes.

hahahahaha

 

[Glenn]

omg i agree. i dont know why they almost run the offense through Reggie, sometimes. I'm gonna need for him to
remove the headband, because they're clearly getting him confused with Big Cuz. yikes.

Same here.

 

[Livinthedream]

I've said many times that 50% of what makes a player great is what's between his ear's, and in my humble opinion, that's where McLemore is lacking. Does that mean he'll never get it? Of course not. It may limit his overall ceiling, but I certainly think he'll be a solid role player at worse. The question is, how long with it take, and does that fit into the Kings overall plan.? I don't have that answer, but to think he doesn't have any trade value is ridiculous. As someone once said, there's a sucker born every minute. There's always going to be a GM who thinks he has the formula to get the talent out of a player, and sometimes, he's right. I do think the ship has sailed on Williams, but in McLemore's case, he's not much more, or less than most GM's thought he would be at this time. Everyone knew he was a diamond in the rough, and that it would take time to get him up to speed.

The truth is, McLemore has the ability to play the position, but, he doesn't have the basketball intelligence or instincts to play the position. So far, it appears that Stauskas does. That's a good thing for the Kings and a bad thing for McLemore. At least in the short term. I think Bricky's idea of trading McLemore and Williams for Martin would be a brilliant move. Not sure it works on paper, but it could also end up being a great move for Minny down the road.

I agree with most of what you say. Williams is done. I was really hopeful, but guarded. Ben does not belong in the same category as Williams. I don't think McLemore lacks intelligence to play the game. I'm not even sure how we measure that. If you said he lacks certain instincts, then I might agree.

However, anytime you have a young, athletically gifted player who took the off season to work on his biggest weaknesses. Dribbling, defense, shot selection and makes a positive change that is immediately noticeable, then you have something. When you also ask him to go from a spot up shooter and learn to slash and drive and he does it, you have something. It doesnt matter if he perfected those skills yet. The kid has work ethic and can be molded and has already shown improvement, so you keep him. Make him into what you want.

In addition, Ben's shot is not broken. He rushes his shot, which can also be fixed over time. Remember those who said he could never be a better ball handler? He's already better and growing. Same deal.

What scares me more is someone who comes into the league and is supposed to be polished and "ready" but needs major development in one or more areas.

So we have to be careful of letting well respected posters tell us who is worthy and who is not based on their personal taste. Also careful not to get mob mentality and slobber all over someone who shows a glimmer of something, but hasn't proven anything yet.

I want everyone on the team to do well, but we're kinda outta control with burrying players or proclaiming someone is the second coming after a game or two. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. The post isn't directed at you bajaden. Just piggybacking.

 

[upinsmoke]

So we have to be careful of letting well respected posters tell us who is worthy and who is not based on their personal taste. Also careful not to get mob mentality and slobber all over someone who shows a glimmer of something, but hasn't proven anything yet.

I want everyone on the team to do well, but we're kinda outta control with burrying players or proclaiming someone is the second coming after a game or two. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

This is KF.com MO in a nutshell. I respect the vast majority of posters here but many do fall to the "mob mentality" as mentioned.

 

[Sluggah]

now I'm obsessed with this Kevin Martin idea.

On top of the shooting, he was always been good at moving without the ball.